Autograph letter signed by the painter Eugène Delacroix to his friend Baron Félix Feuillet de Conches, master of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Charles X and Louis-Philippe. One page in black ink on a folded sheet, with the autograph address on the verso. Traces of seal and postal stamps dated October 7.
The painter writes to his friend Feuillet de Conches, a distinguished man of letters whose works were well received, and who also amassed an elegant collection of art and autographs in his apartment on the rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, the address of this very letter.
A charming and witty missive, in which Delacroix expresses his enchantment with country life, far removed from the bustle of Paris.
"From the summer of 1844, Eugène Delacroix settled at Champrosay, on the edge of the Sénart forest near Paris. There, he recorded in his journal the impressions inspired by his regular walks through the countryside. He produced numerous sketches, later reworked into his large compositions, as well as more ambitious landscapes that reveal how, in his mature and later years, the observation of nature — now contemplated for its own sake — had become central to his art." (MuMa)
"I reply to you late, dear Feuillet, but you will forgive me: I promise you a Gros, very happy to add it to the collection. I pity you for living far from the fields. If we were still in the time of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, I might believe myself in danger of one day being turned into a tree. I am mad about these innocent and beautiful trees, while human nature, on the other hand, loses each day in my esteem. I except, of course, friends like you and the few who retain a little reason.
I embrace you while awaiting this winter
Eug. Delacroix."
Autograph poem by André Pieyre de Mandiargues signed A.P.M. and dated June 5, 1974 entitled "Le plus libre graveur" and which he dedicated to Joan Miro.
Written in black ballpoint pen on a sheet, the poem, of 44 lines, contains some crossings-out and manuscript additions as well as an addition of a cut and pasted sheet in the lower right corner of the poem.
This text celebrating the painter Joan Miro and his style was published in the review XXe siècle in December 1974:
"Feu d'air ou feu de terre
Feu de feu ou feu d'eau
Le haut feu de Miro
Se fait esprit de sel
Acide ardent fumant
Machoîre du dieu ivre
Qui va mordre le cuivre...
...
Parfois il grave sur le givre
il invente le regard
il noie le soleil
Il l'ébouillante
Parfois il balance l'homme
Il bascule la demoiselle,
...
La grande lingerie des noirs
Des bleus des rouges des roses
Des jaunes et des verts
Claquant au vent de Majorque
Un grand pavois d'allégresse
Imposé au blanc d'une page..."
Beautiful poem by André Pieyre de Mandiargues celebrating the abundant style of vivid colors of the painter and engraver Joan Miro.
Autograph letter signed by Germaine de Staël and dated 9 January 1809 to Julie Nigris, daughter of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Two pages written in black on a bifolium. Autograph address on verso, armorial wax seal traces and postmarks.
Usual folds, a tear with a small piece of paper lacking on the address page due to the opening of the seal.
Published as an addendum in Souvenirs de Madame Vigée Le Brun, 1837, vol. III, pp. 264-265.
Germaine de Staël is eagerly awaiting her portrait as Corinne - her novel's heroine- she had commissioned from the famous Vigée-Lebrun. The letter is a precious link in the fascinating history of the painting the baroness would discover a few months later.
"Madam, I have given up on engraving the portrait of your mother. It is too expensive for my whim and I have just suffered a considerable lawsuit that is forcing me to make do with less. But would you be so kind as to tell me when Madam Le Brun will give me the portrait of Corinne? My intention was to send her a thousand écus upon receiving it, but as I have not heard from her, I don't know what to do.
Please be so kind as to get involved and negotiate what I want in this regard. Another pleasing negotiation would be your arrival to Switzerland this summer. Prosper says he will come. Wouldn't M. de Maleteste be seduced by this reunion of all his friends? I dare to count myself among them. Seeing him once, it seemed to me that I was meeting an old acquaintance."
Germaine de Staël addresses Vigée Le Brun's daughter Julie, inviting her and her mother to brighten up her exile. She also tried to gather at her home of Coppet her lover Prosper de Barante as well as Julie's, the Marquis de Maleteste. Dreading solitude, she was determined to invite a host of interesting personalities. Two years earlier, Vigée Le Brun had begun painting a portrait of the baroness depicted as the heroine of her latest novel Corinne. In-between portrait sittings with the baroness, the artist had met the famous members of the so-called Coppet group: Frederick of Prussia, writer Benjamin Constant and salonnière Juliette Récamier. De Staël had already requested a change as soon as the painter had started the canvas and asked for a different landscape in the background. Aware of the somewhat unprepossessing appearance of her model - neither she nor the baroness denied it - Vigée Le Brun created an ambitious portrait mixing antiquity-inspired attire with a furiously romantic allure. She managed to capture the baroness's inspired gaze instead of an expected neoclassical austerity. Despite her enthusiastic initial reactions, Germaine de Staël was not pleased with it and commissioned another portrait from local artist Firmin Massot. The latter produced a poor but faithful copy of the Vigée Le Brun's composition, except for her face and expression he smoothed out and made devoid of any emotion. The baroness's reaction illustrates the irreconcilable dilemma faced by women of letters at the beginning of the 19th century: torn between their identity as intellectual figures (which Vigée Le Brun had magnificently captured in this portrait), and the normative criteria of femininity Germaine de Staël wanted to align with.
A precious piece of correspondence, bringing together two illustrious women - the patron and the artist, whose visions of femininity would soon oppose on either side of the easel.
Autograph letter signed and dated by Auguste Bartholdi to writer Edmond About. Three pages written in black on a bifolium with his letterhead.
Traces of folds inherent to mailing.
Bartholdi returns from Egypt after having presented his project for a colossal statue on the Suez Canal, whose design will eventually be used for the Statue of Liberty. The sculptor gives his impressions of the trip, and brings back silks and Persian carpets from the bazaar for his friend.
From March to April 1868, Bartholdi stayed in Egypt to submit his monument project to Viceroy Ismaïl-Pacha. The idea of building a statue at the entrance to the Suez Canal had stemmed from the sculptor's visit to the canal company's pavilion at the Paris Universal Exhibition. He then imagined a fifty-metre-tall female colossus, stretching her arm skywards and brandishing a lantern - which he named "Egypt bringing light to Asia", or "Egypt illuminating the Orient". The pasha and chief canal builder Ferdinand de Lesseps were not won over:
"Of my enterprise I cannot give you any interesting information. I really don't know myself whether I've succeeded or not. You'll have to wait and see, I've found a benevolent welcome; but nothing definite, in the Egyptian fashion." The idea finally took root on the other side of the Atlantic, where his statue was enthusiastically welcomed by the Franco-American union and brought him international renown.
In addition to his excursions on the back of a donkey to find a site for his work on the banks of the canal, the sculptor took to strolling the streets of Alexandria and Cairo, drawing numerous sketches: "I intended to return to complete my studies at the bazaar; when, being indisposed, I was obliged to leave suddenly [...] I had the pleasure of seeing your friend Arackel, who was as kind to me as your letter ". Bartholdi also thanks About for his glowing review of his work published on June 1st: "It took your kind little note in the Revue des deux mondes to get my pen into my hands. Thank you for your friendly caress", and talks at length about the silks and carpets he had promised him: " The habaye [abbaya] of blue and gold silk cost 180 instead of 175, and they would only let me have it for 130, the last price. The Caramanie carpets cost 60 last price, and I only saw two or three that were beautiful".
A precious and aesthetic letter by Bartholdi, whose unsuccessful venture in Egypt would lead to the building of America's most iconic monument.
Autograph letter signed by painter Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun addressed to historical painter and portraitist Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot. Two pages in black ink on a bifolium. Autograph address of Mme Haudebourt, 19 rue Rochefoucauld, on verso of second leaf. Usual horizontal folds, tear without damage to the text on the second leaf due to the wax seal. A bibliographer's note in blue pencil on the verso of the last leaf.
Engraved bookplate of Eward Wasserman by Marie Laurencin with the words "Ex-libris Edward Wasserman" inscribed on the plate.
Outstanding print on japon with wide margins of Laurencin's engraving for bibliophile Edward Wasserman.
Autograph letter signed by Jean-Jacques Henner to a friend, 20 lines in black ink on a bifolium.
Horizontal fold mark from original mailing.
"Chère madame et amie,
excusez-moi si ne ne suis pas encore venu et si je suis si en retard pour répondre depuis plus de 10 jours. Je cherche un moment pour m'échapper et aller vous voir car je suis toujours avec vous dans la pensée. Je surveillerai votre recommandé et sitôt débarassé de ces travaux j'irai vous voir. Votre dévoué J.J. Henner."
Autograph note signed by Jean Paulhan, 20 lines in black ink addressed to Felia Leal, publisher of "Paroles transparentes," a work by Jean Paulhan illustrated with 14 original lithographs by Georges Braque.
Paperclip marks to the upper left corner.
The note refers to a planned collaboration with Marc Chagall:
"Saturday,
Dear Felia
well, Chagall approves of the short summary. He even seems delighted with it. He says he has had many such ideas. But we are to discuss it in a few days, when he passes through Paris. (He is attending the Rembrandt anniversary celebrations, to which he has been invited by the Netherlands – something he appears quite proud of). Jean P. sends his love."
First edition, with no copies printed on deluxe paper.
A very good copy.
Precious signed autograph inscription from Jean-François Lyotard to Pierre Vidal-Naquet.
Extremely rare ensemble including a catalogue-program on laid paper, 3 original broadsides and 4 flyers announcements printed on colored paper (salmon, pink, blue and yellow) for the Bal de la Grande Ourse organized by the Union des Artistes Russes in Paris, held on May 8, 1925. Not at the NYPL or the Houghton Library.
The folio broadside announcement (49.5 x 32.5 cm) is printed on both sides on laid paper and illustrated with a drawing by Cubist painters Auguste Herbin and Henri Laurens, folded in half; with two alternate printings of the same broadside printed on thin blue paper, folded in half or in four.
Housed in a chemise and slipcase with a brown morocco spine.
Cover drawings for the catalogue by Herbin, Laurens, Larionov and Léger. The catalogue includes illustrations by Picasso, Gontcharova, Larionov, Léger, Rodchenko, Vassilief, Melnikoff, Frenkel, etc.
Rare copy on laid paper of the program for the Union des Artistes Russes ball on the theme of constructivist architecture, exceptionally signed by Michel Larionov at the bottom of the cover. The contributors of the catalogue include Bernouard, Brunelleschi, Bourdelle, Brancusi, Cendrars, Chagall, Delaunay, Foujita, Gleizes, Laboureur, Soupault, Tzara and Valadon. In addition to the masked ball, events such as the dance performance "Ballet Synthétique" and the "Balcon Poëtique", consisting of fragments of modern poetry readings on the balcony railing, were organized. Other events at this avant-garde ball included the "Space Walk", the "Invisible Orchestra" and a "Japanese Dramatic Theater", a composition by Claude Debussy entitled "Cake Walk".
A rare ensemble representing "a fascinating intersection of Russian émigré culture and the vibrant Parisian art scene of the early 20th century" (Libraries of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston).
First edition, one of the numbered copies on vellum, the only printing.
Publisher's binding executed after the original design by Paul Bonet.
Rich iconography.
Handsome copy complete with its illustrated dust jacket.
Precious autograph inscription signed by André Malraux: "Pour Georges Bataille André Malraux."
First edition of the exhibition catalogue of Albert Aymé's works presented at Galerie Editions from February 11 to March 7, 1976.
Handsome copy.
Text by Mireille Guezennec.
